Eventful Anthony Kim round shows rust (in more ways than one)

Anthony Kim’s second tournament round in a dozen years ended the same as the first, with a six-over 76. And much like Friday — when he hit a shank and a top during his opening round — there was some noticeable, and expected, rust.

Kim ended his second round at LIV Golf Jeddah with 11 consecutive pars to prevent a potentially disastrous round from getting completely out of hand, and while 11 straight pars are hardly reason to celebrate for a pro golfer, consider how his day started.

Grouped with Graeme McDowell and Bubba Watson and starting on the 15th hole at Royal Greens Golf Club in Saudi Arabia, Kim opened bogey, bogey, double bogey, bogey. His lone birdie came on the 1st hole (his fifth), and he made his second double bogey on the 3rd. He kept the big numbers off his scorecard the rest of the way but still didn’t make more than one birdie.

Kim had some eventful moments, too. According to Monday Q Info, he had an odd lost-ball incident on the 17th hole (his third), in which a lengthy search for a ball that at first glance seemed findable came up empty. That led to a double bogey. Then there was his approach into the par-5 18th hole — his fourth of the day — when he caught it a little thin, skipped it over the water, through the fairway and into the bunker. He made bogey.

He also apparently showed some rust when it came to the ever-evolving Rules of Golf. According to Monday Q Info, at one point Kim took relief from casual water. He dropped it from his shoulder, but you might recall that rule changing to a knee-height drop back in 2019. A rules official told Kim he had to redrop.

He’s 12 over, in 53rd place (or last, since Matthew Wolff withdrew to drop the field to 53) and nine strokes behind Ian Poulter, who is three over and in 52nd.

“Right now I’m just focused on trying to hit good shots as opposed to comparing my game to other people,” Kim said on Friday. “I think that will come over the next few tournaments. But right now, I’m just trying to take it one shot at a time, as cliche as that is.”

Joaquin Niemann shot 64 on Saturday and, at 13 under, leads the tournament by two over Charl Schwartzel. Jon Rahm is nine under and four off the lead, and Phil Mickelson and Talor Gooch are both seven under.

Sunday’s final round begins at 11:05 a.m. local, or 3:05 a.m. ET. You can watch the final round on LIV Golf+ beginning at 3 a.m. ET, or 1-6 p.m. ET on The CW on tape delay.